Tag Archives: Infallible Word

Do you know that the Holy Bible is the best selling book of all time with over 5 billion copies sold and distributed?–Guinness World Record

Do you have a Bible?Do you read your Bible?The Bible is the manual of human life. Through the study of the Bible, you get to discover yourself and come to understand your Maker’s desires and requirements of you; which determines your unstoppable success in life.

Let me start by making it clear that no one who comes to Christ actually loses his/her life, but they submit their lives to save it through Christ. There’s no loss in Christ. What we consider as loss is the submission of one’s entire life to pass through the physical and spiritual process that aligns with the divine laws and principles of God that guarantees eternal salvation and rewards.
To the planet earth, this is a loss. But to heaven it is a process and a principle. And it is gain (Philippians 1:21).

Your Money or your Life

LABOUR AND REWARDS

Without a reward of some-kind, no human being will get down to work or get involved in any activity that will require expenditure of energy, time, talent and treasure. It is natural.
This is exactly what Proverbs say, “The appetite of labourers works for them; their hunger drives them on.” Proverbs 16:26
And the Lord said , ‘I search the heart and examine the mind, to reward each person according his conduct, and to what their deeds deserve’ Jeremiah 17:10.
You can see that God Himself is fully behind the principle of labour and reward.

LOSING ALL FOR CHRIST

Peter and other Jesus’ Apostles, upon encountering Christ lose their lives for Him by placing Him above everything they were and had.
They left their businesses, work, families, wives, children, friends, enemies, social activities, nightclub, adultery, fornication, cheating, lying, injustice, just to name a few, to follow Christ. They left EVERYTHING to follow Christ! Did you take note of that statement by Peter? “We have left everything to follow you.”

However, confusion ensued among the apostles after Jesus answered a certain rich ruler who inquired of Him what he (the ruler) must do to inherit eternal life (Matthew 19:16-30). As a result of Jesus’ response to the man’s question, Peter reacted!

PETER’S REACTION

Peter answered him, “We have left everything to follow you! What then will there be for us? Matthew 19:27

Like Peter, many followers of Christ when life hit them hard, are forced to question the Lord, what will be my reward for all these sacrifices I’m making for the sake of the kingdom? “I have lost my job, I have lost my friends, I have lost my family, I have lost my …….
What becomes of me?

AND JESUS SAID

And Jesus said to them, “I tell you the truth, at the renewal of all things, when the Son of Man sits on his throne, you, who have followed me will also sit on twelve thrones, judging the twelve tribe of Israel. And everyone who has left his houses or brothers or sisters or father or mother or children or fields for my sake, will receive a hundred times as much and will inherit eternal life. Matthew 19:28-29.

Jesus also answered similar question in the gospel of Mark 8:35. And He said, “For whoever wants to save his life will lose it, but whoever loses his life for me (valuing Him above all else)and for the gospel will save it.

In the last edition I explained what it actually means to lose one’s life for Christ. Among all, remember it also includes losing one’s physical life when the situation necessarily requires that, like in the case of Brother Stephen in Acts of Apostles chapter eight (8)and the Twelve Apostles of Christ except John the Beloved who later died a natural death after losing his life for Christ.

WHAT HAVE YOU LOST FOR CHRIST AND FOR THE GOSPEL?

Apostle Paul exclaimed, “But whatever were gains to me, I now consider loss for the sake of Christ. What is more, I consider everything a loss because of the surpassing worth of knowing Christ Jesus my Lord, for whose sake I have lost all things. I consider them garbage, that I may gain Christ….”
Philippians 3:7-11

Every faithful soldier of Christ must have an injury.
If you are a true follower of Christ, there must be something you so much loved and engrossed to which you must have given up for the sake of following the Lord Jesus Christ, except you are a ‘fair-weather follower’(following Christ when it is convenient).

The assurance from the Lord for you that follows Him in season and out of season is that you will be rewarded far beyond how much you had given up or left for Christ’s sake and for the gospel. It can never go unrewarded.

Let’s list and analyze what Jesus said we will gain when we lose our lives for Him and for the gospel.

​First reward;
Jesus addresses His apostles directly and specifically for them at that moment He said, “I tell you the truth, at the renewal of all things , when the Son of Man sits on his glorious throne, ( when the new heaven and new earth will come to be. Revelation 21) you who have followed me will also sit on twelve thrones, judging the twelve tribes of Israel” (Mt 19:29)

The word “Judging” in this context simply means ruling, presiding, and governing. So the Apostles, for forsaking their lives for Christ and for the gospel, in addition to so many other rewards, will receive, and rule over the twelve tribes of Israel forever. This reward is specifically spelt out for “the twelve apostles”

​​Second reward
Jesus addresses everyone including the apostles, his disciples, you, myself and all who will later believe in Him and follow Him. Whatever we left or lost to follow him -whatsoever it is, we will receive a hundred times as much. Mt 19:29

What have you lost for the sake of Christ and for the gospel? Jesus says to you, ‘You will receive it back a hundred times here on earth.’ This reward is going to be received here on earth as we journey from earth to heaven. Note: it will be given to those who have not given up their faith in Christ, who are still in the Lord Jesus Christ and are in active service of the Master.

​Third reward;
“And will inherit eternal life” (Mt 19:29)
For losing your life for Christ and for the gospel, you will inherit eternal life.

You will be counted among those that will hear this word from the triumphant King of kings, Master of the universe, Jesus Christ, “Come you who are blessed by my Father; take your inheritance, the kingdom prepared for you since the creation of the world.” (Mt. 25:34)

​Fourth reward;
“For whoever wants to save his life will lose it, but whoever loses his life for me and for the gospel will save it”(Mk 8:35)

Take this again, “WHOEVER LOSES HIS LIFE FOR ME AND FOR THE GOSPEL WILL SAVE IT”

The word “SAVE” in this context is all encompassing. It covers a wide range of benefits which we are going to be explored line by line.

By valuing Christ above your life and everything else in your life, you would have saved your life.

What is the meaning of the word “SAVE?”

(Greek word ‘sozo’ which has been translated in the New Testament as follows :
​•​Save
​•​saved
​•​Whole
​•​Healed
​•​Preserve
​•​Well
In other words Jesus is saying, as you lose your life for me and for the gospel, you have SAVED your life, you have made yourself WHOLE (restored), you have HEALED yourself of every illness and disease, you have PRESERVED your life for eternal reward and you have made everything to go WELL with you in this life and in the life after. You have become God’s number 1 property. God’s eyes are always on you to favour you.

CONCLUSION
There’s a statement that Jesus dropped in the last verse of Matthew 19, and He said, “But many who are first will be last, and many who are last will be first.”

Don’t give up your heavenly race! We are closer to the finishing line than when we set out.
What we just described as our rewards from the Lord is the little that the Lord enables our mind to comprehend.
It is written; “What no eye has seen, what no ear has heard, and what no human mind has conceived – the things God has prepared for those who love him. 1 Corinthians 2:9

Our eternal rewards are indescribable, words can not express them. The only qualification is to remain faithful till the end.
Shalom.

Do you know that Jesus really and truly loves you? It was His love for you that made Him to take the painful way of the cross. So that by dying and shedding His own holy and precious blood on the cross, you would be reconciled to God your Father and obtain forgiveness for your sins and be saved. (Colossians 1:19-23; 2:13-15)

What a love! What a true love!

YOUR NEW LIFE NOW!

Please, give your life to Jesus today and experience a newness of life. You will be a different person. According to 2 Corinthians 5:17 “Therefore, if anyone is in Christ, he is a new creation; the old has gone, the new has come!”

Your old life with its condemnation and punishment has truly passed away. While your sanctified new life, set apart for godly purposes has begun with its enviable testimonies as soon as you receive Jesus as your personal Lord and Saviour.

From our monthly news letter Sep-Oct. 2018

A gang of robbers broke into a multi millionair’s house, and at gun point fiercely demanded, “Your money or your life.” Within a space of 3 secondes, the man quickly responded with great fear of losing his life and his family, “Please, my life! My life! My life!” He said with a vibrating but flinchy tone.
He went straight to his inner chamber and drew out a box filled up with thousands of naira, a few pounds and dollars and willingly and respectfully handed it over to the robbers who zoomed off with immediate effect. The man knelt down with his entire family and thanked God for their life.

WHY DID HE CHOOSE HIS LIFE OVER HIS MONEY?

It could be for the follwing reasons;

1) Life is most valuable than wealth
2) When life is lost, it can’t be earned back here on earth
3) With life, more money could earned and much wealth could be created
4) He realized that losing his life and probably his entire family means losing everything out of foolishness
5 He also may have come to realize that earthly wealth does not last and not worth dying for

He was wise enough to make a wise and positive decision at that critical moment of his life. I have heard of a few cases of some other persons who found themselves in a similar situation, but made a foolish and terrible negative decision of holding to their valuables and eventually lost their lives. They gambled with their only one earthly life and lost it. Their foolish greed cost them their very promising lives. they lost it all.

King Solomon wrote: “Anyone who is among the living has hope -even a live dog is better off than a dead lion!” (Ecclesiastes 9:4 NIV)

In other words, a living outcast is far better off than a dead king. That places a high value on life than anything else among men. No one in a real sense naturally wants to die, even you and I..

Christ? Gives life, saves life and gives every good thing + everlasting life.

Everybody is naturally careful of not losing their lives because life is sweet and beautiful. But you will be amazed to realize how fast we are losing our precious and promising lives to so many worthless things. Many have willingly lost their lives to this world, to money, fame, drugs, women, power, etc. And not for Christ..
Did you read that? “AND NOT FOR CHRIST!” WHY? We will look at this in a few paragraphs ahead.

The robbers who stand at the highway or break into peoples’ houses have actually lost their lives to the money they go after. They could be apprehended, imprisoned or executed. A cultist loses his/her life to possible danger of sudden death resulting from show of might and supremacy over rivals. A fighter loses his/her life to unpredictable injuries. A quarrelsome person loses her/his life to shame and disrespect. A gossip loses her/his life to unfriendliness and lonliness. A thief loses his/her life to disgrace and indefinite restrictions. The list goes on. And finally here is the ultimate loss. HEAVEN!
Don’t lose heaven because you lost your life to earthly treasures.

What are you losing your life to right now? Does it really worth it?
Money
Wealth
Fame
Power
Women
Alchol
Drugs
Etc.

Nothing on earth is worth losing your life to, no matter what are, or what they are meant for, except Christ, Him crucified for your redemption, and what add values to human life and brings glory God. Outside of this, nothing absolutely worths it. You too think about..

GETTING IT AT ALL COST

When you choose to get anything out of this life AT ALL COST, not minding the possible adverse effect it will have on people around you, yourself and how displeasing it is to God your Maker, you have lost your soul to this life and to hell. Getting something at all cost simply means you don’t bloody care about how it gets into your hands, or what or who is affected.

Don’t lose your promising life to gain this world’s wealth, fame and power that dissapears and is no more like a vapor. But lose your life to get that which lasts for eternity.

And Jesus queried, “What shall it profit a man, if he shall gain the whole world, and lose his own soul? Or what shall a man give in exchange for his soul?
(Mark 8:36-37 KJV)
What you can you give to replace your soul? Nothing!

CHOOSE TO LOSE YOUR LIFE FOR CHRIST!

Don’t you ever make the mistake of losing your life for earthly things. It is foolishness in the highest order and it will cost you your real life (eternal life). Lose your life to gain Christ, and for the sake of the gospel. That will give you real life (eternal life) in return.

Here lies the irony, we are everly ready to lose our money to keep our physical life going, like the man we disccussed about at the beginning of this article, but we are not ready to lose our money or our earthly life to gain Christ and eternal life.
And Jesus said in Mark gospel 8:34-37 “Whoever wants to be my disciple must deny themselves and take up their cross and follow me. 35 For whoever wants to save their life will lose it, but whoever loses their life for me and for the gospel will save it. 36 What good is it for someone to gain the whole world, yet forfeit their soul? 37 Or what can anyone give in exchange for their soul?

WHAT DOES IT MEAN TO LOSE YOUR LIFE FOR CHRIST

Losing your life for Christ means choosing Him over anything in your life. It means to seek Him first before any other thing. It means your life being patterned and modeled by Him and molded in Him. It means saying goodby to worldly life. To lose your life for Christ means doing everything for His sake and glory. To lose your life Christ means to deny yourself, pick up your cross (cares and responsibility) and follow Him. To lose your life for Christ means doing everything for His own sake and reverence.

When you choose to lose your life for Christ, you will have no room to accommodate ungodly activities and immoral lifestyles.

WHAT YOU WILL GAIN WHEN YOU LOSE YOUR LIFE FOR CHRIST?
To continue in next edition.

Bassam Adranly was born a Palestinian and grew up in the Greek Orthodox Christian tradition.

In a recent interview with Revive Live, he says he often criticized Jews. While in his 20s and attending a university in Tel Aviv, he turned to atheism.

In 1995, he says he had a personal encounter with Jesus Christ that turned his life around.

“Every night I was dreaming of Him, all night through,” Adranly says. “Going with Him and His disciples everywhere. … and all day through, I couldn’t get His words out of my mind.”

Adranly said at the time he had a hatred of Jews like many other Palestinians.

“I was wrestling with this and I knew it was wrong. So I gave myself to the Lord to change it,” he told the television program.

Adranly said God touched his heart and his prejudice was gone.

Today, he is an Arab-Christian living in Israel and pastors a congregation in the city center of Jerusalem.

“The Lord showed me very clearly that nationality is not something I receive. It’s not something that I just take from my old life,” Adranly explained. “The Word of God in 2 Corinthians 5:17 says ‘Who is in Christ is a new creation. Old things have passed away,” and it includes our nationality. So we have to come to the Lord and ask to receive from him what he wants to teach (me) about my nationality, about my people.”

GOD COMMANDED IT SHOULD BE WRITTEN

Though God speaks to us through various ways, but our focus here is the Holy Bible, the written revelation of God, which reveals the origin of all things. It reveals how it all began and how it will definitely going to end. That’s why the LORD remains the First and the Last. (Isaiah 48:12, Revelation 1:17)
In another occasion the Lord said, “I am the Alpha and Omega,” says the Lord God, “who is, and who was, and who is to come, the Almighty.”

God personally designed Biblical medium of communication for the people He has made to occupy the earth, so that one generation to the next will have access to it.

As a written word, it could be easily pass from one generation to another, unlike when it is orally passed. Non is exempted from this plan.
An earthly father will always communicate with his children about one thing or the other when the need arises. It is through this communication that the father’s desire for the children will be made known to them. Through this communication the father uncovers his wealth of experiences, knowledge and wisdom, principles, plans, and promises to the children as they had never experienced in life. It could come as warning, teaching, admonition, discipline, scolding, rebuke, blessing, promises, assignment and so on. It is all for the purpose to help escape failure and become successful, happy and fulfilled in life.

The children in turn will through this conversation understand what their father wants from them, what they should avoid, what they should hold on to, what plans their father has for their future, how he has provided for them and how much he is willing to care and support them at any moment in their life.

That is exactly what God designed the Holy Bible to accomplish between Him and us as a Father and sons and daughters in a big family with eternity in focus.
All He wants us to know about Him as our only true Father is written in His Holy Book. As the Omniscient God who sees and knows the end from the very beginning, He had known all you need to know about Him, and had written them down for you and I. I had known how many footsteps you are going take in life to step into your abundance. He knows where success lies for you and where it does not. That’s why He has a specific Word for everyone He has made. He has a personal message for you hidden in His Book. It’s duty to search it out.
It is written in God’s Book that, “it is pleasure to conceal a matter, but it is your duty to find it out. (Proverb?

Everyone of His children including you, has something written for them in The Holy Bible.
The early you discover yours, the faster you will fulfill your destiny and purpose of being created.

Of Christ it is written, “Then I said, ‘Here I am- it is written about me in the scroll-(Scripture) I have come to do your will, O God.'”

And to Nebuchadnezzar it was said, “this is what is decreed (Spoken) for you….” Daniel 4:31

Concerning pharaoh God said, “But I have raised you up for this very purpose, that I might show you my power and that my name might be proclaimed in all the earth.” Exodus 9:16

Then it is generally said about everyone in Psalm 25:12 “Who, then, is the man that fears the Lord?
He will instruct him in the way chosen for him.”

Do you know what is written about you in God’s Word? Remember, the Bible is a book of relationship between God and you. It is the book of the everlasting covenant between us and God. It is the everlasting evidence of God’s faithfulness. It is a proof that God is your Father, and you are His son or daughter. It is a proof that God cannot lie to you.
And Balaam declares to Balak that summoned him to place a curse on God’s people, “God is not a man, that He should lie, nor a son of man that He should change His mind Numbers 23:19

Like I already stated above, “The Bible is the book of covenant between us and God.” It will pay you more to get to understand what your Creator has reserved for you in this Book, than having millions of dollars. When you know it, then you can earn an during wealth and success that lasts.